Stories of persons and places in Europe . ns.—All the wrongs and oppressions that the Frenchpeople suffered through a long line of kings, began during the reign ofLouis XIY. to gather a storm of wrath. While Louis XV. reigned thestorm kept gathering. When Louis XYI. came it burst out in terriblefury. Enraged at the thought of their past wrongs, their half starved con-dition, their burden of taxes, hearing of the success of the American Declara-tion of Independence, and having lost all respect for their kings, they seizedand placed under the guillotine the unfortunate Louis, who had been morein
Stories of persons and places in Europe . ns.—All the wrongs and oppressions that the Frenchpeople suffered through a long line of kings, began during the reign ofLouis XIY. to gather a storm of wrath. While Louis XV. reigned thestorm kept gathering. When Louis XYI. came it burst out in terriblefury. Enraged at the thought of their past wrongs, their half starved con-dition, their burden of taxes, hearing of the success of the American Declara-tion of Independence, and having lost all respect for their kings, they seizedand placed under the guillotine the unfortunate Louis, who had been moreindulgent than all the rest. His queen, Marie Antoinette, daughter of MariaTheresa of Austria, shared the same fate a few months later, and then thestorm began to rage. AYith monarchy swept away, the maddened peopledestroyed everything connected with it. All rank, all grades of society, andeven the Christian religion was declared abolished. The worship of Reasonwas publicly set up ; but reason had nothing to do with the scenes that f ol-. THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK. 314 Persons and Places in Europe. lowed. Blind rage, envy, jealousy, hatred, every evil passion seemed letloose upon the unfortunate French of Paris in 1793. An assembly declaring themselves the ruling power ordered every day thedeath of from sixty to seventy persons. For seven weeks a reign of terrorfollowed in which no one knew who would be the next victim. Fully fifteenhundred persons were sent to the guillotine during this period. Then the tide turned against those who had caused these murders andthey met the same fate they had lavished upon others. This was the firstFrench Revolution. When the storm was spent a young Republic beganto bring order out of the chaos. But this new government was surrounded by foes from without. All theother sovereigns of Europe felt that the growth of a republican governmenton their borders was a menace to their own thrones. A reign of terrormight be begun in their own capitals. So th
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